CEBU CITY, Philippines — If you hear or witness suspicious activities involving the sale and purchase of infants, report it immediately to either the police or social workers in your barangay.
This was the plea made by Police Lieutenant Colonel Maria Theresa Macatangay, Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) deputy director for operations, following the recent discovery of a “baby-sale” crime perpetrated by a couple in the city.
The couple, residing in Brgy. Duljo Fatima, Cebu City were found to have sold their seventh and eighth kids as newborn babies in order to allegedly fund their illegal drug addiction. Fortunately, the two were busted and their newborn baby girl was rescued.
READ:
Cebu City couple faces human trafficking raps for selling newborn
Explainer on administrative adoption: How is it done?
Macatangay urged members of the community, local hospitals, and medical practitioners to report these kinds of activities which she described as “very abnormal and unacceptable.”
“We would also want to appeal to the public, to hospitals, to medical practitioners, to members of the community, kung naa silay madunggan nga ingon-ani nga hitabo or insidente (that if they hear of a similar incident), they should not hesitate to report to authorities so that ma-imbestigahan (this could be investigated) properly,” she stated.
Macatangay praised the actions of the concerned citizen who first shed light on the recently arrested couple’s actions after hearing one of the latter’s children saying that his sibling was sold to buy a new phone.
The concerned citizen, who is a neighbor of the family, made a social media post which caught the attention of the Cebu City Department of Social Welfare and Services (DSWS).
Couple caught playing tong-its
With the help of Mambaling police, authorities visited the couple’s residence on March 7 to conduct verification and caught them in the act of engaging in a game of “tong-its.”
The parents were arrested for illegal gambling and operatives managed to rescue the baby they sold for approximately P100,000. The rescued infant and her older siblings have since been placed under the care of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
Police investigation showed that the baby was handed over to the buyer in Brgy. Guadalupe shortly after she was discharged from the Cebu City Medical Center (CCMC) on March 6.
CCMC management, for its part, confirmed that the mother gave birth at their facility on February 20 but clarified that they had no involvement in any illegal transaction involving the infant and her parents.
Dr. Anton Oliver Reposar II, chief of CCMC, said that all dealings concerning the sale of the child occurred after the baby and the mother were discharged from the hospital.
Further investigation showed that the hand-off indeed took place outside the hospital after a middleman, who brought money from the buyer, helped the baby’s father settle their bills inside the facility.
According to Macatangay, they do not discount the possibility that the hospital management may have not noticed anything suspicious as there was no scuffle that caused a disturbance.
“We will not be surprised nga wala kahibaw nga kagamhanan sa hospital [CCMC] ani because wala may scuffle ug wala may commotion nga nahitabo when the transaction happened,” she said.
(We will not be surprised that the hospital [CCMC] did not know anything about this because there was no scuffle and no commotion happened when the transaction happened.)
Baby sale activities
Reposar assured that they were enforcing strict security protocols that would make it highly unlikely for any illegal transactions to occur inside the hospital.
With the possibility that such “baby-sale” activities might take place inside hospitals after the mother would give birth, Macatangay also appealed to hospital personnel to make a report immediately upon sensing anything suspicious.
As of this writing, investigation is ongoing and charges for illegal gambling and human trafficking are being prepared against the erring couple who are detained at the Mambaling Police Station’s custodial facility.
Macatangay assured that they were working closely with all concerned agencies to get to the bottom of the suspects’ illegal operations.
For individuals or couples hoping to take in babies as their own, Macatangay urged them to follow the legal adoption process.
Legal adoption process
In Central Visayas, the process of administrative adoption can be done through the regional office of the National Authority for Child Care (NACC), an attached agency to the DSWD established through the RA 11642.
Because of NACC, the adoption process is made easier and more accessible with a turnaround time of six to nine months for domestic-administrative adoption.
Concepcion Solera, officer-in-charge of the regional office of NACC (RACCO), said that those who would want to adopt children here may visit their office in Mandaue City or to the nearest municipal or city social welfare office because all local government units were already oriented about RA 11642.
A social worker will then assess the couple’s motivation in adopting in order to see if they are fit to properly provide care for the child. Solera also said that couples were not the only eligible people who could adopt children but also those who were single and members of the LGBTQIA++ community. / with a report from Pia Piquero and Niña Mae Oliverio